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Using our senses to soothe!

Elves love to use their senses for storytelling, but Minnie and I had no idea, until recently, that our senses could be usedfor restoring our sense of well-being!

Minnie says that I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. As you might know, humans have five senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. (Elves have a few more senses than this, but we will leave that for another time.)

Elves and humans use their senses every day, most often without even thinking about them. Yet, the research of humans shows, if we use our senses more purposefully, a bad feeling can be washed away! The heart might begin to beat more slowly, the blood pressure might begin to fall, and any feeling of emergency or urgency quickly subsides!

Recently, an expedition of small elves met a young human by the name of Joel, high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The elves discovered that Joel is an expert at using all of his senses to enjoy his surroundings.

He SEES the Bighorn sheep…

He SMELLSthe mountain air…

He HEARS the falling hail tap against the leaves and the ground…

He TOUCHES the soft fur of an old friend…

He TASTES a sweet cup of hot chocolate at the trail’s end!

The small elves began using their own senses with much more purpose, and became joyous!

Nor do we need to be on a mountainous hiking trail to use our senses to soothe. Not at all! We can be anywhere, seeing, smelling and listening to our heart’s content! And each person (and elf, of course) can find the experiences that they most delight in.

When you next feel exasperated, annoyed or any other way that does not feel good, you might pause and ask yourself to:

SEE five things
then TOUCH five things
then HEAR five things
then SMELL five things
and even TASTE five things.

By the end of this pleasurable tip, see how you feel! (No pun intended!)